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Vegetation and climate reconstructions on different time scales in China: a review of Chinese palynological research

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Abstract

This paper reviews vegetation and climate reconstructions for different time scales based on palynological studies in China. It discusses examples of significant developments in palynological research topics within China: (1) Modern pollen—a modern pollen database (East Asia Surface Pollen Database) has been established through the collaboration of Chinese palynologists. Based on these data, modern pollen distributions and their quantitative relationship with vegetation and climate have been thoroughly studied. (2) Pre-Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics—scientists have mapped pollen and palaeobotanical data from the Palaeogene. The vegetation distributions confirm a north–south zonal pattern during the Palaeogene that changed to an east–west monsoonal pattern during the Miocene and Pliocene. These results provide key evidence for understanding monsoon evolution. (3) Late-Quaternary vegetation—biome reconstructions based on fossil pollen data show spatial and temporal changes in vegetation since the Last Glacial Maximum, permitting a better understanding of climate change across China. (4) Quantitative climate reconstructions—some reconstructions have successfully detected Holocene climate variability thereby providing insights into monsoon history. At present, there are no comprehensive spatial reconstructions. Major possible future developments should focus on: (1) long-term vegetation reconstructions from lakes to study Asian monsoon dynamics at orbital scales; (2) quantitative reconstructions of vegetation and climate change to help stronger integration with palaeoclimate models and dynamic vegetation models; (3) land-cover and land-use change across China over the last 6,000 years to understand human impacts and provide empirical data for climate modellers; and (4) integration of pollen data with vegetation and climate modelling to understand the CO2-vegetation relationship and climate dynamics.

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Qinghai Xu, Zhuo Zheng and Limi Mao for valuable discussions. I am greatly indebted to John Birks for his useful comments and linguistic improvement. This paper was motivated by the meeting of “Centenary (1916–2016) of pollen analysis and the legacy of Lennart von Post”. This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Projects # 41690113 and #41330105), National Key Research and Development Program of China (#2016YFA0600501).

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  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yan Zhao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yan Zhao

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Correspondence to Yan Zhao.

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Communicated by H.J.B. Birks.

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Zhao, Y. Vegetation and climate reconstructions on different time scales in China: a review of Chinese palynological research. Veget Hist Archaeobot 27, 381–392 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-017-0655-6

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